Thursday, March 27, 2014

On 26 March 2014, Stephanie Booker of Natural Justice attended a
meeting hosted by Southern Cape Land Committee in Jansenville, Eastern Cape.
Attended by Southern Cape Land Committee, Groundwork and local community
representatives from indigenous peoples and local farming communities across
the Karoo, the meeting was an opportunity to discuss fracking developments
nationally, the sharing of information on the ground and of various community
strategies being pursued.

The meeting was a continuation of community mobilisation
discussions with respect to fracking that originated in Steytlerville in May
2013, and continued in October with the launching of a declaration at the
fracking dialogue in October 2013.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Recent publications have highlighted the importance of
community rights in reducing deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) a
mitigation policy under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change.

A Special Feature in Ecology and Society on Beyond Carbon: enabling justice and equity in REDD+ across levels of governance, examines the
complex landscape of justice and equity in REDD+ and the multiple levels of
governance in which they play out. The papers illustrate the need for a greater
integration of the human rights discourse in REDD+ as a means to improve equity
outcomes, and disturbingly none provide evidence of a significant
re-distribution of material benefits as a result of REDD+ initiatives.
Interestingly, an analysis of Indigenous Peoples engagement in the UNFCCC REDD+
processes demonstrates that some indigenous actors have managed to ‘import
power’ from human rights discourse to strengthen their influence over REDD+
decision-making.

Cath Traynor of Natural Justice attended the 2014 SEED South Africa Symposium “Advancing the Green Economy: creating jobs and opportunities
for green enterprises” held on 19-20 March 2014 in Pretoria, South Africa. SEED
stands for supporting entrepreneurs for sustainable development. Natural
Justice’s Bio-cultural Community Protocols was a 2009 Gold winner in the SEED
awards.

Over 150 participants including 40 entrepreneurs from
private sector, civil society, academia, media, and government gathered to
exchange experience, knowledge and perspectives that could advance the growth
of socio-environmental entrepreneurship in South Africa. Sessions included
creating green jobs and the impact of social and environmental start-ups,
growing enterprises, and barriers, success factors and enablers to support
enterprises. Key issues that arose included accessing financing during the
initial phases of start-ups, encouraging investors to deal with risks and to
understand the human value of initiatives, the limited voice and impact small
enterprises have at policy level, the lack of understanding of the potential of
SMMEs within the general public, and also insufficient support from government
and within the regulatory environment. Discussions focussed upon finding
solutions to common problems experienced by small enterprises in South Africa.

Monday, March 24, 2014

On March 13, 2014, Stephanie Booker, Marie Wilke and Aino
Cantell of Natural Justice participated in a meeting with Board members of
Vuyani Development Trust, in the community of Nelspoort. The meeting was hosted
by Southern Cape Land Committee and Vuyani Development Trust with the view to
discussing Biocultural Community Protocols (BCPs) and shale gas exploration
within the community. The town of Nelspoort lies within the local municipality
of Beaufort West, from which the community leases their farmland.

The meeting began with a presentation by Stephanie Booker on
the role of Natural Justice and BCPs in the context of extractive industries.
This was followed by a presentation on the advantages and disadvantages of
fracking activities taking place within the community. Community members shared
their own experiences on the issues, and articulated some of the community’s
needs in light of the proposed activities, such as better information, and
education on their rights. With a high unemployment rate, fracking is seen by
some in the community as an opportunity to end current levels of poverty. Local
organizations such as Southern Cape Land Committee are currently developing
their work to provide balanced information to communities across the Karoo.

Friday, March 14, 2014

In India, women’s access and rights of ownership over family
property (both moveable and immoveable), in the absence of a will, is governed
by succession laws based on religion. Under Hindu law prior to 1937, a woman
did not have the right to own any property at all, except what she received
from her parents at the time of her wedding. The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 was
a breakthrough in terms of giving Hindu women a full and equal share of their
husbands’ property as the children; yet, the male bias persisted. An amendment
to this Act in 2005 took the progressive step of making daughters coparceners
at par with sons, such that they receive an equal birthright to a share in the
natal family’s ancestral property, i.e., parents’ property.

In December 2013, International Land Coalition (ILC) member
Landesa Rural Development Institute and UN Women, India, prepared a report on
the formal and informal barriers in the implementation of the Hindu Succession
(Amendment) Act, 2005 in the context of women agricultural producers of Andhra
Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. The study is unique in a number of ways,
especially given its focus on women as agricultural labourers, an explicit
effort to ask women what they want, and an assessment of the overall awareness
of all stakeholders on general awareness relating to this law.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Natural Justice’s Gino Cocchiaro and Josh Ogada are
attending the Pan-African ABS Workshop, being held from the 10-14 March 2014,
in Cotonou, Benin. Organized by the ABS Capacity Development Initiative and now
in its 8th iteration, the workshop is being hosted by the Ministère de
l'Environnement Chargé de la gestion des changements climatiques, du
reboisement et de la protection des ressources naturelles et forestière.

The meeting brings together a range of stakeholders and
interested parties including ABS National Focal Points, representatives of
competent national authorities for ABS, representatives of relevant regional
and international (research) institutions, NGOs, indigenous and local
communities, as well as representatives of the private sector involved in
bio-trade and bio-prospecting. Natural Justice is a key partner to the
Initiative, and this workshop provides a unique opportunity to review and
strengthen the partnership, as well as forge stronger linkages with other
stakeholders in the area of Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS).

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

On March 10, Stephanie Booker and Aino Cantell of Natural
Justice attended a roundtable discussion in Cape Town hosted by the South
African Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, themed The First Frack is the
Deepest: A Deeper Look at Hydraulic Fracturing in South Africa.

The roundtable brought together over 30 participants,
including members of civil society, journalists, and Members of Parliament.
Speakers included Mr Jonathan Deal, CEO of Treasure the Karoo Action Group
(TKAG), Dr Julia Schünemann, senior researcher at the Institute for Security
Studies (ISS), and Mr Niall Kramer from Shell South Africa.

The key objective of the roundtable was to discuss the
potential dangers and benefits that fracking may bring to South Africa, given
national discussions about exploring what is believed to be the eighth largest
reserve of shale gas in the world. Speakers highlighted the country’s current
dependency on local coal production for energy (South Africa are one of the
largest producers in the world) – with the potential for fracking or renewable
energies providing an alternative for excessive coal reliance.

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Welcome to Natural Justice: Lawyers for Communities and the Environment

Natural Justice is an international NGO facilitating the legal empowerment of Indigenous peoples and local communities. Natural Justice takes its name from the legal principle that people should be involved in decisions that affect them. Accordingly, we assist communities to engage with legal frameworks to secure environmental and social justice. Join us as we explore the rapid changes happening across the world in the field of environmental law.